As the poll date approaches, the government is preparing to request logistical support from two neighbouring countries—India and China—for a successful conduct of the polls four months away.

Following the willingness of the two countries to support, the Election Commission outlined the types of support it was willing to seek from the two countries and forwarded them to the Ministry of Finance.

“The commission has sent the list to the government to be handed over to the two countries through diplomatic channels. It doesn’t directly deal with other countries,” said acting chief election commissioner Ram Prasad Bhandari.

During their meeting with the government and the commission, the representatives from the Indian and Chinese officials have expressed their willingness to provide support.

On October 17, in a meeting with heads of missions, representatives of diplomatic communities, and development partners, Prime Minister Sushila Karki requested their support for the elections.

Bhandari said they need motorcycles, pick-up vans, cars, and trucks to transport the ballot papers, ballot boxes, and other logistics. He, however, refrained from providing the numbers of items they needed. Informed sources say the total number of items is around 400.

The International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division of the Ministry of Finance will coordinate with the respective countries to receive the aid. “I don’t think the request has been made yet,” said Tanka Pandey, spokesperson for the ministry. “It might still be under discussion.”

Prime Minister Karki has, on more than one occasion, stated that friendly nations are ready to provide support. Talking to the chief ministers from all the provinces on Sunday, she said that the neighbouring countries are providing vehicles. She also said that some friendly nations have pledged financial assistance as well.

The Indian government provided 200 vehicles as part of its logistical support to various Nepali institutions for the November 2022 elections. While different security agencies used 120 of them, 80 were used by the commission itself.

As dozens of vehicles belonging to the security agencies were burnt down during the violent Gen Z movement, their need is higher this time. Over 600 vehicles belonging to the security agencies were vandalised or set afire on September 9. Nepal Police lost 525 vehicles and the Armed Police Force’s 62 vehicles were destroyed by the protesters.

The security agencies raise logistical issues at every security meeting targeted for the March 5 elections. As the commission plans to conduct the polls in a single phase, the security agencies must be better equipped to ensure peaceful elections.

Even if the two countries provide the vehicles as demanded, the security agencies will still be short of them. To meet the shortfall, the government has released the budget to buy 251 vehicles for the different agencies.

As many as 175 vehicles are being purchased for the Nepal Police, 70 for the Armed Police Force, and six for the National Intelligence Department. The finance ministry has sanctioned Rs800 million for the Nepal Police, Rs440 million for the Armed Police and Rs30 million for the intelligence department.

In her meeting with the chief ministers, Karki had mentioned that the process to procure vehicles for the police had already moved forward. Other than the vehicles, the election commission has concluded that it requires Rs7.8 billion to hold the elections. Most of the money goes to human resource management.

The figure, however, doesn’t include the cost for security arrangements. A tripartite meeting between the commission, the government and the security agencies, last week, concluded that temporary police need to be recruited as the current security strength will not be enough for the March 5 elections.

There is the practice of recruiting youths as temporary police to be mobilised for around a month during the election period. Millions of rupees are spent for their payment and uniform.